Improvement in finishing- and dressing sheep-skins for leather



dtird giant amt WW Letters Patent No. 92,416, dated July 13, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN FINISHING- .AND DRESSING SHEEP-SKINS FOR LEATHER.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent ahd making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that 1, ROBERT Annnnws, of the city and county of Milwaukee, and State of Wisconsin,

have originated, invented, and discovered a new and improved Method of Finishing, Dressing, Making, and Preparing Sheep-Skins, so as to transform them, make them good, strong, compact, firm, substantial, and durable leather, impervious to water, and fitted for all the mechauical uses to which leather of a light character is ordinarily applied; and especially adapted to purposes and uses for which such skins could not heretofore be employed with profit and advantage; and particularly to render such skins, when so prepared, fit and suitable, in an increased degree, for all purposes and uses. to which they have heretofore been applied.

The following is a full, clear, and exact description of my invention and discovery, with the principles relating thereto.

I use a sheep-skin, or any other skin of the peculiar structure and character of sheep-skin, after it has been tanned with hemlock-bark or sumach. Other sheepskins, otherwise tanned, can be used, but they do not so well answer the purpose.

I prepare a composition for filling the pores of the skin, or for stufiing it, as it is usually termed, consisting of tallow and common pine-tar.

' I compoundthese two materials, which I employ for this purpose, according to the method described as my iuvention and discovery for making a compo-.

sition for stufling leather, for which Letters Patent were granted to me by the United States, on the 29th day of April, A. D. 1869, which method is vsubstantially as follows: I I put into a caldron or kettle a quantity of 'tallow, by weight proportioned to the whole quantity of the compound, generally so much as'will make the compound consist of fifty or sixty per cent. of tallow.

I beat the tallow in the kettle to such a degree as to cause it toboil smartly. v

I put into a vessel :1. quantity of pine-tar, by weight, which shall bear'aproportion to the compound, when made, of from about twenty to seventy-five per cent. of the whole, generally, however, so as to make the compound consist of about forty or fifty per cent. of tar. I

I then introduce into the vessel containing the tar a very small quantity of the boiling tallow, so gradually as to avoid iggiting the tar.

While and-as I pour in the boiling tallow, I stir and agitate the tar until the heated tallow combines with the tar, and the whole becomes liquefied.

I then suddenly and at once pour into the liquefied tar the entire quantity of boiling tallow.

After this is done, I again put the compound into a kettle, and by a slow fire boil the same for at least half an hour steadily and continuously.

I then remove the fire, and let the composition remain in the kettle for an hour or more after the boilinghas ceased, in order that all the rosin and sediment may fall to the bottom.

I then draw 0d the composition for use.

I apply a thin coating of this composition to the fleshside of the skin with a brush. v

The composition should not be hot, but slightly warm, and the skin should be dry, and as it is after being tanned. Too much of the composition should not be put on in the first dressing, lest it should strike through the grain of'the skin. I

I then turn the skin over, and color it upon the grainside, in the manner in which sheep-skins areusually colored.

I then hang up the skin to dry until the color is absorbed. V j I If not sufliciently colored by the first application, I repeat the process until it is colored to my satisfaction.

-After the coloring is completed, I again apply the composition to the flesh-side of the skin, in as great quantity as I think the skin will hold and retain.

I also apply to the grain-side, after the same is colored, a composition, consisting ofneats-foot-oil, linseedoil, tallow, and beeswax, in equal parts, very thoroughly boiled and mixed together, for the purpose-of finishing the skin, and giving the color more prominence.

I again hang up the skin to dry, and let it remain from one to twenty-four hours,'depend-ing upon the temperature and the stated the atmosphere.

Then the skin is sufliciently dry, I put it through a process of curryin g, by spreading the grain-side upona polished hard surface, usually zinc, and then glossing' 0r rubbing theflesh-side with some smooth instrument, to which pressure is applied in the process.

' The result which I claim to have attained by my invention, and the reasons for it, are asfollows:

his well known that a sheep-skin, or any skin of the same structure and character, has but very little strength, toughness, or durability, and is almost valueless for any of the uses in which strength, durability, or tenacity isrequired. x

' The cellular tissue of such skin is very loose and coarse, and instead of the pores of the skin being small and closely connected, they are large and poorly united, When, thercfore, sucha skin is tanned and dried, it

'becomes flabby and spongy, the tissue is easily separated, and thcfibrcs pulled apart.' There is none of the close compactness of the fibres which is found in the skins of other animals.

It is apparent that the more close and compact the texture of the skin is or can be made, the stronger it will be. WVith avlew, therefore, of making the tissue more compact, of bringing the fibres -n1ore closely together,

and giving them support, of solidifying the spongy and flabby substance, of giving the tissue and fibres adhesive qualities, by which, when pressed together in theprocess of currying, they would adhere, unite,

and become consolidated, this composition is applied. I claim that the whole nature and character of the sheep-skin are changed by it. From being very porous, it becomes compact and solid. From being very easily broken,'it becomes very tough and strong; so tough and strong that it is almost impossible for a single person to break it or pull it apart. From being incapable of resistance, it becomes firm, durable, and lasting. Instead of having the appearance of sheep-skin, it has all the qualities of the best goat or calf-skin. It is made strong, substantial, du-

'rable, tenacious, and, what ismore than all, impervious to water; and all this, I claim, is caused by my mode of dressing and-finishing, with the materials above named, compounded in the manner herein described, and applied as I apply them; and all this cannot be done, and has never before been done by any process heretofore known.

What I claim as my invention, and for which I desire Letters Patent, is-

The method of dressing, finishing, making, and preparing sheep-skins, of whatever description, with the aid and assistance of the materials herein named, com-.

pounded as herein described.

Also, the leather that is made out of such skins by such a method, and with such materials so compounded, disclaiming all othcrthings but the leather, andrthe method of making it with the materials compounded as herein described,

Witnesses:

Em WALLBER, R. N. AUSTIN.

ROBERT ANDREWS. 

